Produce bushel basket (3/4) for peaches owned by John Losasso who owned American Fruit & Produce at the Denver Denargo market. The label on the basket dates it to the 1960s. The basket has staves that overlap from top to the other side. Two rims around basket top, tan inside, green on outside. Handles worked into rim with two double wires on either side for securing a lid. Rim around middle and bottom. Paper liner inside with oval holes spaced. Concave bottom. Sticker between two rims. Sticker depicts peaches, house, water, orchard and trees. See below for information on the grower.
A Bushel, A Basket
At its simplest, a bushel is a unit of measurement. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the U.S. bushel was derived from the Winchester bushel, a British measurement dating back to the 15th century. At one time, farm products could be measured by how much would fit in a bushel basket.
In 1925, thirteen-year-old John Losasso left school to work in the produce business full-time. After years spent loading trucks and delivering produce to grocery stores John started his own business, and in 1939 he opened American Fruit and Produce at the Denargo Market. His company—known as a “jobber store”—primarily sold produce to local grocery stores in Denver. Like other sellers at the Denargo, Losasso specialized in different kinds of produce. One of those specialties was watermelons. Losasso used this knife in his years at American Fruit and Produce. See attached article for more information. See also MSS2595 John Losasso file and CIAPA.OH.081.
It all started on the Sunny Slope.
RA Symms left Kansas for Oregon to pursue his dream of growing fruit. Instead of the Willamette Valley, he ended up near Caldwell, Idaho – in the unique micro-climate of Sunny Slope along the Snake River. In 1914, Symms planted the first eight acres of fruit trees on his 80-acre farm. Four of the original trees are still in place bearing fruit today.
From this humble beginning, the Symms Fruit Ranch now encompasses 5,000 acres, 3,500 of which are fruit trees and vines, with 1,500 acres of row crops. Symms Fruit Ranch does not rely on outside growers for its production. Fruits and vegetables are grown on our farms, packaged in our packing house and shipped from our cold storages. Vertical integration ensures reliable quality and impeccable food safety at every step of our operation.
Quality, flavor, value and sustainability are our hallmark. We are proud to be nearing 100 years of sustained operation as growers of the highest quality fruit in the world. From http://www.symmsfruit.com/history.html 2024